Documentary Films and the Environment

Topic: Documentary Films and the Environment

Dr. Jülide Etem is Assistant Professor of Media Studies at the University of Virginia, where she directs the Film Studies Concentration and chairs the Film Studies Curriculum Committee. Her research explores film as an institutional infrastructure shaping public opinion, governance, and diplomacy. Her forthcoming book, Film Diplomacy: A Media History of Turkey–US Relations (Columbia, 2026), examines educational films as geopolitical tools. Etem’s current projects investigate film’s role in gun violence narratives, Cold War science education, and population control campaigns, highlighting cinema’s power to mediate policy, health, and knowledge across political, scientific, and cultural domains.